Scott Moore: Welcome to the "Building Faith and Family" podcast with Steve Demme. I'm your host, Scott Moore. Thanks for joining us today. Good morning, Steve. How are you today?

Steve: I am all perky now. I wasn't a couple hours ago, but now I am. How are you?

Scott: I'm good. Not exactly perky, but I'm never perky, so...

Steve: I attended my college reunion this past weekend and saw people I hadn't seen in decades. It was really sweet reacquainting oneself with people that you haven’t seen for years. Some people I don't think I've seen since I graduated, so that was fun.

I had several opportunities to give my testimony, I don't even know how many times, seven or eight times. People would say, "Well, what are you doing?" Next thing you know, I'm telling them what God has done.

Steve: One of the unexpected blessings was as I was coming across a bridge. I went to Grove City College and there is a little rainbow bridge across the creek between the upper and lower campuses. I was talking to one of my classmates, when somebody came up and put their hand over their mouth. I had met their family in Idaho years ago speaking at a Homeschool Conference, and I vaguely remembered her. Her daughter is a freshman now at Grove City College a math major, who used Math‑U‑See, so it was pretty cool.

Scott: Wow. That's awesome.

Steve: That never gets old.

Scott: Grove City is where our pastor's whole family goes. Everybody in their family went to Grove City, I think.

Steve: This was my 50th reunion and our class was right behind the band in the parade. It was me and a whole bunch of old people. :-)

Scott: Sounds like fun.

Steve: Nobody was keeping up, man. We were all strung out. I'm trying to talk to some of them, but they walked too slow. "Come on, we need to keep up." 

Scott: I'm trying to picture this.

Steve: Yeah. That was nice. I'm going to introduce today’s topic in an interesting way. Do you remember the sermon that Tony Campolo preached, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming"?

Scott: I've heard pieces of it, yes.

Steve: That wasn't his sermon. He was at an African American church, and he had preached. They're very open apparently, and he said to the head preacher who was next, "Let's see if he can top that." He says, "OK." He's the one that preached, "It's Friday, but Sunday's coming," which was an amazing sermon.

It was Tony that retold it and it became famous, but it was an African American church. I had an African American preaching instructor when I was in seminary. Some of the things that I remember is him explaining the difference between going to the kind of church I would grow up going to and going to an African American church.

He said, "Sometimes the people, they knew the preacher was going to start off with two jokes and a story to introduce it, they would say, 'We're going to go down the road and wait on you.'" In other words, until they get into something, some content. I've thought of that many times.

Steve: Sometimes the preacher would be struggling a little bit and somebody in the audience would say out loud, ‘Help him, Lord. Help him.’" That's got to be tough, but then again, they're praying, so that's probably a good thing. I remember when he was telling us about one sermon that he'd gone to when the preacher was talking about, "Jesus is the high priest." He took a long time to make this point. "He's not the low priest. He's not the middle priest. He's the high priest."

Of course, he's using his hands down low and hands in the middle, then he raises his hands. "He's the high priest." Then he went over it and over it, and he observed, "I never forgot it." That's what we're going to talk about today. God is not the low God. He's not the middle God. He's the Most High God. Do you know what the Hebrew for that is? You get extra credit if you get this.

Scott: I do not.

Steve: When you see the word "God," you can usually figure there's El in there. El is God and Elyon is most high. El Elyon therefore means the Most High God. I've been in the Hebrew this morning and the Hebrew/Aramaic, and I've been in even the Greek a little bit, but this is an expression for God.

This is one of the ways that we can increase in the knowledge of God is by continuing to study His name. Let's pray.

Father, thank You for this name, this descriptive name, this name that gives us insight into Your character, Your attributes. I pray that You'll help us as we study the scriptures to really see You as the Most High God. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Scott: Amen.

Steve: El Yon is used 53 times in the Bible. A little over half, 29 times, it's connected with God Himself. It's a title. This name emphasizes not only His, you might say His standing, He's the Most High, but also His strength, His sovereignty, His supremacy. Pretty clear cut. I went through those 29 times, and I chose some passages which I'll read later.

It also can also mean uppermost or very high, and that's used 24 times, and I have  some examples of that. The first time in the Bible that it's used several times is Genesis 14:17‑23. This is after Abraham had assembled his household, and they went after these kings that had wiped out Sodom, Gomorrah, and other places, and taken with them Lot, his nephew.

Abraham went, they won the battle. On the way back, reading in the 17th verse, "The king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him at the veil of Shaveh, the same as the king's veil.

"And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine, and he was priest of God most high. And he blessed him and said, 'Blessed be Abram of God most high, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God most high, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.'

"And he gave him a tenth of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, 'Give me the persons, and take the goods to yourself,' but Abram said to the king of Sodom, 'I have lifted up my hand unto Jehovah, God most high, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread, nor a shoe latchet, nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'"

God Most High is used four times. The first time it appears in scripture is our introduction to Melchizedek. "...but Abraham of God most high, the possessor of heaven and earth." That phrase is used twice. This is a picture of God the Most High.

As I said 24 times, I have a couple examples here, it simply means very high or uppermost. In Deuteronomy 26:17‑19, "You have today declared Jehovah to be your God and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments, and His ordinances, and listen to His voice.

"Jehovah has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made." There's the expression "high above," but it's the same word, and it doesn't really connect to God Himself. It's to what God said He would do for His people.

If they would keep His commandments, then He would set them high above. Deuteronomy 32:8‑9, "When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the children of men, He set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. For Jehovah's portion is His people. Jehovah is the lot of His inheritance."

These are so good. The Most High gave to the nations, because He's the Most High. He's over all the nations. He can give it to whomsoever He will. Then, kind of a mundane application, but Joseph is in prison; he is there with the guy that checks his drink and the baker.

Genesis 40, "When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, 'I also had a dream, and there were three cake baskets on my head, and in the uppermost basket, all sorts of baked food." Uppermost is also Elyon, but it means most high, uppermost in a mundane fashion, and then over half of the times it applies to God Himself.

These are all from the Psalms. Psalm 7:17, "I will give thanks unto Jehovah according to His righteousness and will sing praise to the name of Jehovah Most High." 

Psalm 18:13, "Jehovah also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice."

You only have the expression "Jehovah most high" a couple times, but you have it in the same passage "Jehovah" and "most high." 

"The king trusts in Jehovah, and through the loving kindness of the Most High he shall not be moved." Psalm 21:7.

"Jehovah, Most High, is terrible. He is a great king over all the earth." Psalm 47:2. 

"You alone, Whose name is Jehovah, are the Most High over all the earth." Psalm 83:18 

"You, O Jehovah, are my refuge. You have made the most high your dwelling place." Psalm 91:9.

The last one is Psalm 92:1, "It is a good thing to give thanks unto Jehovah and to sing praises unto Your name, O Most High." 

It's used 29 times talking about God and His name, but there's also, and this is where it gets tricky, if you  look up that one Hebrew word in the concordance, you get those. If you dig a little bit, and you go to the English and back and forth, you find out that Daniel uses this word 16 times in the short book of Daniel. I'll  read a couple of them.

"Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace, a blazing fire. He responded and said, 'Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, come out, you servants of the Most High God, and come here.' Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the midst of the fire." This is Daniel 3. 

Nebuchadnezzar uses this expression six times in the fourth chapter. This is when Nebuchadnezzar was going to school, God's school of humility. He starts off the fourth chapter. "It has seemed good to me to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me." Here's Nebuchadnezzar, who's been eating grass, his fingernails are grown, but he learned that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men.

Then, there's another word that's close to it, but it's a little different. It's El Elyon, but both of these words that Daniel uses have an Aramaic flavor. Remember, Daniel was in Babylon. Daniel was not in Israel. There are words that are really close to the Hebrew, but they have an Aramaic flavor, and they only appear in Daniel or Ezra.

The seventh chapter, I'm going to read a pretty good section here, verses 16 to 27, and this is Daniel, and I believe it's for our day, which is why I want to read the whole thing, because we need to keep apprised of this. Daniel had a dream, and we are breaking in now in the 16th verse.

"I came near unto one of them that stood by and asked him the truth concerning all this, so he told me and made me know the interpretation of the things. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings that shall arise out of the earth. The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever, and ever."

(Remember that expression. "Saints of the Most High.”) 

"Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broken pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, and about the 10 horns that were on its head.

"And the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things and that seemed greater than its companions. As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High. And the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom."

That's quite a picture, but we're talking about a beast and 10 horns. There's a lot we could do with that if you go back and forth between Revelation when there are 10 kings and a beast. I'll keep reading.

"Thus he said, 'As for the fourth beast, there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and it shall devour the whole earth and trample it down and break it to pieces. As for the 10 horns, out of this kingdom 10 kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them. He shall be different from the former ones and shall put down three kings.

"He shall speak words against the Most High and shall wear out the saints of the Most High and shall think to change the times and the law and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time, but the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away to be consumed and destroyed to the end.

"And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.'"

I don't know how familiar you are with Revelation, but there's a lot of overlap here. You have the time times, half a time, which looks like three and a half years, and then you have the Most High, and the saints of the Most High are actually overcome for a season until the Ancient of Days arises and the saints possess the kingdom. 

I believe we might have a chance to live through this season. A little bit of that, maybe we're starting to live through the beginnings of it now. The Most High God, El Elyon, God Most High, God the big king, God over heaven and earth, the possessor of heaven and earth. What do you think there, brother?

Scott: Well, like most good Christian boys of the '80s and that era, I'm familiar with that phrase mostly from the Amy Grant song "El Shaddai.” It has the line "El Elyon Na Adonai." I do remember hearing it in that, which was actually written by Michael Card, not Amy Grant.

Steve: There we go.

Scott: I did have the thought in there that I wonder if this made more sense in a culture where there were lots of gods all over the place, and it was a way of differentiating. "No. Ours is the Most High God. Deal with that."

Steve: That's a good point.

Scott: Because nowadays, I don't know, people say, "God," they don't differentiate. There aren't a whole lot of people running around saying they're praying to their little idol gods in their bedroom or whatever. There probably are some people doing that around, but I don't hang out with those people. I don't know what to do with that.

Steve: I think there's always a temptation to think that your God is the most high God, especially when you've got this guy called the beast. I think we have a little foretaste of the last days when you have Aaron and Moses contesting before Pharaoh, and he had his own boys that were imitating Moses and Pharaoh pretty successfully, to a point. Then finally, they said, "Let these guys go. Their God is different than our god."

Scott: In that culture, Pharaoh thought he was a god. Again, there might be countries where the leader claims to be a god, but not usually in our culture.

Steve: Yeah. There's another word which I haven't mentioned, which is in the New Testament, it is hupsistos which also means most high, and it's tied directly to the Old Testament word because in Hebrews 7, it talks about Melchizedek, a priest of the Most High God.

There's a lot of overlap right there, but there's a couple passages in Luke that are, I think, very anointed. It's when they're talking about Jesus.

Steve: This is the angels, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father, David." Later, he says the same thing. "Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be?' And the angel answered and said, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.'"

That's very, very special. There are only nine times that Most High is mentioned in the New Testament. Again, some of those are not directly related to God, but twice is when the demons were being cast out, and they're protesting, "Jesus, son of the Most High God, don't torment us." That kind of thing. They knew who they were seeing, even if it took us a while to catch up. Amen.

Father, thank You for this appelation, this attribute that has been articulated and distinguished in scripture. You are the Most High God. I pray that You will write that, not just the phrases and not just the words, but the concept that You are sovereign. You are the MOST HIGH GOD. There's none like You. There's nobody that possesses heaven and earth except You.

You do rule on heaven, and You do rule on the earth, and You are king over all. We're happy to be sons by grace, adopted sons of the Most High. We're happy to follow Jesus, and we're happy to follow God the Most High with all our hearts. Whenever we're tempted to forget it, I pray that You remind us that You are the one that controls heaven and earth. In Jesus' name, amen.

Scott: Amen. That's our show for this week, folks. Thanks for joining us for the Building Faith and Family podcast with Steve Demme. If you have a question for the show, email Steve at spdemme@Gmail.com. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week.